Transmission of Rumor and Criticism in Twitter after the Great Japan Earthquake

Yuko Tanaka, Stevens Institute of Technology

Yasuaki Sakamoto, Stevens Institute of Technology

Toshihiko Matsuka, Chiba University

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine psychological factors
that affect the transmission of rumor and criticism in social media during
disasters. 40 students at Chiba University evaluated 10 rumor tweets and
corresponding 10 criticism tweets that were posted in Twitter after the Japan
March 11 Earthquake. Among some psychological factors, only importance was
related to intended transmission of rumor. Surprisingly, accuracy and anxiety
were not predictors of any transmission. Estimated transmission of criticisms was
higher when its importance was high, while that of rumor did not vary according
to importance. Interestingly, although participants estimated that criticisms
were spread more than rumor, they intended to transmit rumors as much as
criticisms.